Congress gives utilities $25 billion to erase customer debt.
H.R. 10466 — End Energy Hardship Act · Filed by Paul Tonko (D-NY) · Introduced Sep 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill sends $25 billion to power and gas firms. Firms must erase debt owed by low-income people, seniors, disabled people, and families with young kids. Firms must set up payment plans. Bills cannot cost more than 3 to 6 percent of income. The bill pays for help tracking whether the plan works.
Who it affects
Low-income people, seniors, disabled people, and families with young kids get debt erased. They also get lower bills. Power and gas firms get money but cannot pass costs to other people.
One thing to notice
Firms can use up to 10 percent of first-round money for their own costs. The bill does not say how to check if debt amounts are correct. The bill does not explain how to keep income data safe or how long firms can keep it.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- low-income — Earning less money than most other people.
- payment plans — A deal for how and when to pay a bill.
- income — Money a person or family earns.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (15,805 characters) on Oct 1, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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